Stabilizer for inner spring units



March 18, 1958 s. DREWS STABILIZER FOR INNER SPRING UNITS Filed July 16,1952 INVENTOR GUSTAVDRENS BY 9 6W *1 4/ s ATTORNEY United States Patent2,826,768 STABILIZER FOR INNER SPRING UNIT Gustav Drews, Garden'City, N.Y., assignor to Eclipse Sleep Products Inc, New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application July 16, 1952, Serial No. 299,084 1Claim. c1. -351 tress for the entire length of the sides and/or widthsof the mattress.

These and other features, capabilities and advantages of the inventionwill appear from the subjoined detailed description of one specificembodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a mattress equipped with the improved border stabilizer.

Fig. 2 is a fragmental enlarged detail of a portion of the mattress withthe covering removed.

In the embodiment shown, the mattress 1 is illustrated as provided withan upper rectangular wire border frame 2 and a lower rectangular wireborder frame 3. These frames 2 and 3 are spaced from one another by theconventional coil springs 4. The coil springs adjacent vthe wire frames2 and 3 are conventionally connected to the same by a helical springwire connector 5 that is threaded securely around the wire of the frames2 and 3 and the outer loops of the springs 4 as shown in Fig. 1.

In the present instance the wire 6 constituting the border stabilizer issecured to the wires of the wire frames 2 and 3. This wire 6 obviouslymay extend around all four sides of the mattress 1 or only along thesides, or only along the widths, or only along one side or one width,without departing from the general spirit of the invention. The novelty,however, resides in the fact that one wire extends at least along anentire side of a mattress to take the place of a plurality of stabilizerunits such as disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,509,831.

The single wire 6, see particularly Fig. 2, may be formed into aplurality of loops which will yield when compressed. One form of suchloops is illustrated in which the wire 6 consists of a succession ofS-shaped loops, such as the loops 7, 8 and 9 integral with one anotherby the intervening lengths 10 and 11. Starting with the length 12adjacent the wire frame 3, as an instance, the wire 6 continues in anS-shaped configuration 7 to the intervening length 10 connected to thewire of the wire frame 2, then continues in the inverted S-shapedconfiguration 8 to the intervening length 11 connected to the wire ofthe wire frame 3, then continues in the S-shaped configuration 9 to thelength 13 connected to the wire of the wire frame 2. Excellent resultshave been achieved when the loops of the S-shaped configurations 7, 8and 9 are substantially identical with one another as shown.

The same helical connecting wire 5 that connects the outer loops of thecoil springs 4 to the wire of the frames 2,826,768 Patented Mar. 18,1958 2 and 3 may be used and is used in the present instance to connectthe lengths 10 and 13 tothe wire of the frame 2, and to connect thelengths 12 and 11 to the wire of the frame 3. Obviously when pressure isexercised on the upper frame 2, and particularly if it is adjacent thewire of the frame 2, the S-shaped loops 7, 8, 9 below the same will becompressed.

Although the mattress 1 illustrates the inner spring unit of aconventional twin bed mattress about 39 inches in width by about 74inches in length, it is of course obvious that the stabilizer wire 2 mayalso be used with a full size inner spring unit which is about 54 inchesin width by about 74 inches in length, without departing from thegeneral spirit of the invention. The inner spring unit of a twin bedmattress of the size aforesaid frequently has about 231 spring coils 4arranged in eleven rows of about twenty-one coils to a row, with therows of 21 coils extending longitudinally of the mattress. These coilsare in turn connected by the helical spring connecting wires 5 extendingtransversely of the inner spring unit and connecting the upper and lowerouter loop portions of the coils 4 as shown in Fig. 1. After the coils 4are so connected to one another, then they are provided with a wireframe, to wit, the substantially rectangular wire frames 2 and 3connected by helical spring connecting wires 5 to the free outer edgesof the outer loop portions of the outermost coils 4. Preferably the wireof the frames 2 and 3 is about 14 gauge, or about of an inch indiameter.

The stabilizing effect is produced by the looped wire 6 which ispreferably composed of high carbon steel of 14 gauge, or about of aninch in diameter.

Obviously the form of the loops and the dimensions may be changedwithout departing from the general spirit of the invention. Particularlyexcellent results, however, have been achieved when the border frames 2and 3 are spaced about six sinches from one another by the coil springs4, and the distance, as an instance, from the outer face of the loopportion 14 of a loop 7 to the outer face of the loop portion 15 of anadjacent loop 8 approximates nine inches, and the outer face of the loopportion 15 of a loop 8 is spaced about two and one-half inches from theouter face of the loop portion 16 of a loop 9.

With the dimensions aforesaid, allowing three and three-quarters inchesfrom the outermost loop portion 14 to the end of the mattress, it willthen be possible to fit in five pairs of loops, consisting of the loops7 and 8, as an instance, for the side of a twin bed mattress unit.

Although excellent results have been achieved with the conformations anddimensions aforesaid to afford suffi cient give under pressure andnevertheless offer suificient resistance to the objectionable collapseof the edge of a spring mattress unit under pressure, in the interest ofcomfort, with persons of average weight ranging between and 250 pounds,it is of course obvious that to meet greater or less weight conditions,as an instance other wire and of other gauge may be used and other formsof loops provided Without departing from the general spirit of theinvention.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made to thedetails of construction without departing from the general spirit of theinvention as set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

A spring unit for a mattress and the like having coil springs spacingthe upper from the lower face thereof and having co-extensive parallelupper and lower border forming wires, a stabilizer having a continuouswire extending at least the length of one side of the unit formed intointervening abutment lengths and a plurality of alternate S-shaped andalternate inverted S-shaped configurations, all in a common plane, eachconfiguration having two substantially equal open loops, and oneabutment length between each S-shaped and inverted S-shapedconfiguration, of which abutment lengths, alternate lengths are disposedadjacent to the upper border forming wire and the other alternatelengths are disposed adjacent to the lower border forming wire, with theconfigurations functioning to yield under pressure in a lateraldirection within the common plane of the border defined by said borderforming Wires, and a continuous helical wire connector threaded aroundthe upper and lower border forming Wires and enveloping the adjacentintervening abutment lengths of said stabilizer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSFOREIGN PATENTS Germany July 25, 1902

